TIRUCHY: A 30-year-old man, suspected to be part of the gang that launched crude bomb attacks at the police escort team transporting history-sheeter Kalimuthu alias Vellakali there days ago in Perambalur, was shot dead in a police encounter early on Tuesday near Thirumandurai forest in Perambalur district. According to police sources, the deceased, C Kottu Raja alias Azhaguraja, had allegedly attempted to escape by attacking a sub-inspector and hurled country-made bomb at a police vehicle when he was taken to the forest area by the police team to recover concealed weapons.
Azhaguraja of Mela Anuppanadi in Madurai had five criminal cases, including murder and attempt to murder, against him in Madurai and Thoothukudi districts, police said.
The police have also arrested six other accused — R Nirmalkumar (26), N Pandi Muneeswaran (27), and S Karthick (29) of Madurai, T Alex Pandiyan (34) of Rameswaram, A Aaravin (29) of Samayapuram, and R Vinod (34) from Nilgiris district — in the Vellakali attack case.
After the audacious crude bomb attack aimed at murdering Vellakali on January 24, five teams were formed by police to arrest the gangs that had come in two cars.
On Monday night, one of the special teams traced the suspects to Ooty and arrested seven of them, including Azhaguraja. During interrogation, Azhaguraja allegedly informed the police that he had hidden country-made bombs and weapons at multiple locations.
Subsequently, a police team led by Mangalamedu inspector Nandhakumar took Azhaguraja to the forest area near Thirumandurai to recover the concealed explosives. When the team reached the spot, Azhaguraja attempted to escape by hurling a crude bomb at the police vehicle and also attacked SI Sankar with a machete. Inspector Nandhakumar fired at him with his service pistol, hitting him in the head. While Azhaguraja died on the spot, SI Sankar sustained serious injuries and was admitted to the Perambalur Government Hospital. Azhaguraja’s body was later sent to the same hospital for postmortem.
Tiruchy Range IG Balakrishnan and Perambalur SP Anitha inspected the encounter site and visited the hospital to check on the injured officer. Addressing reporters, IG Balakrishnan said that during interrogation, Azhaguraja had revealed that bombs and weapons were hidden at multiple locations and had deliberately misled the police by taking them to false locations in Perambalur.
“In the Thirumandurai forest, while recovering a hidden bomb, he hurled the explosive at a police vehicle and attacked a police officer. The police fired in self-defence following which he died,” the IG said.
Kunnam District Munsif-cum-Judicial Magistrate R Rajasekaran inspected the encounter site and later identified the body at the hospital in the presence of the deceased’s relatives. Azhaguraja’s body was later handed over to his family after the postmortem.
A total of 15 suspects are involved in the Vellakali attack case and search is on to arrest the other eight accused, police said.
The six accused arrested by the Mangalamedu police along with Azhaguraja were remanded to Pudukkottai prison after being produced before Perambalur Judicial Magistrate II on Tuesday.